Campbell's damage limitation exercise

Alastair Campbell is a devout soccer man but that means nothing when your job is spin.

And he has spun like few before him, earning the title "the real deputy Prime Minister" when he was Tony Blair's director of communications.

After Blair was swept into No 10, a photographer was dispatched to get a picture of the new Prime Minister and his wife at home. The snapper had just finished lining up the couple for a nose-to-nose shot when Campbell burst through the door and demanded: "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

The photographer snapped to attention, expecting a sharp blast from Campbell, only to realise the remark was not aimed at him but at the Prime Minister.

Lions coach Clive Woodward hasn't hired Alastair Campbell for his empathy for the game they play in heaven. Campbell's raison d'etre is positive image and damage control.

But Campbell has a tainted reputation in Britain, where he was named by Dr David Kelly as having "sexed up" the dossier on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Campbell, once the Daily Mirror's political editor, was cleared of any wrongdoing by a parliamentary select committee but the public may not have been so convinced. Meanwhile, Kelly's death is still under investigation.

Campbell's main concern with the Lions might be sexing them down, given the testosterone levels of boys on tour. Campbell should be able to relate, having written erotic fiction for a men's magazine.

Bringing Campbell in is, if anything, an admission that the Lions have been a public relations nightmare. Certainly the Australian tour of 2001 was a nadir in off-field relations.

No one liked the Lions much and the Lions didn't like each other either.

Woodward cited those problems with Graham Henry's tourists as a factor behind his preparation.

So expect plenty of staged photo opportunities featuring local children. Campbell's performance will be closely scrutinised. He is playing his own game. The results will only be known once the plane has landed back in those British Isles.

- Herald on Sunday